{"product_id":"ballad-of-a-small-player","title":"Ballad of a Small Player","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e'I waited patiently for the next hand to be played out, and I had a feeling it was going to be a Natural, a perfect nine.'\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eHis name is Lord Doyle. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHis plan: to gamble away his last days in the dark and decadent casino halls of Macau. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHis game: \u003ci\u003ebaccarat punto blanco\u003c\/i\u003e -- 'that slutty dirty queen of casino card games.' \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThough Doyle is not a Lord at all. He is a fake; a corrupt lawyer who has spent a career siphoning money from rich clients. And now he is on the run, determined to send the money - and himself - up in smoke. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSo begins a beguiling, elliptical velvet rope of a plot: a sharp suit, yellow kid gloves, another \u003ci\u003enaughty lemonade\u003c\/i\u003e and an endless loop of small wins and losses. When Lady Luck arrives in the form of Dao-Ming, a beautiful yet enigmatic lost soul, so begins a spectacular and unnatural winning streak in which millions come Doyle's way. But in these shadowy dens of risk and compulsion, in a land governed by superstition, Doyle knows that when the bets are high, the stakes are even greater. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Ballad of a Small Player\u003c\/i\u003e is a sleek, dark-hearted masterpiece: a ghost story set in the land of the living, and a decadent morality tale of a Faustian pact made, not with the devil, but with fortune's fickle hand.","brand":"Lawrence Osborne","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":47276043272428,"sku":"9780804137997","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0684\/1791\/3068\/files\/9780804137997.jpg?v=1770190388","url":"https:\/\/allstora.com\/products\/ballad-of-a-small-player","provider":"Allstora","version":"1.0","type":"link"}